Corona stress: 91 percent of Germans are affected

Most Germans feel stressed by the pandemic. These are the reasons for it …

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Have you felt more stressed than usual in the past few months? If so, you are not alone. The pandemic is a stress test for all of us: due to the contact restrictions, familiar social structures are breaking down, many have reduced their interpersonal contacts to a minimum. The possibilities for spending free time are severely limited, in some cases not only our private but also our everyday work has been restructured. And if you want to escape the madness, you can’t even go on vacation … This new normal takes its toll. A survey by the FORSA Institute on behalf of the Working Group on Food Supplements (AK NEM) in the Food Association Germany shows: 91 percent of Germans suffer from corona stress.

That is why 91 percent of Germans suffer from corona stress

1,100 people aged 18 and over were interviewed. The survey period was the four weeks between June 15 and July 13 – a period in which the strictest security measures had already been lifted and a majority of the population felt that they had already got used to the new normal. And yet: 91 percent of Germans said that they had recently felt stressed out privately or at work. The level of stress seems to vary widely: 37 percent stated that they were sometimes stressed, 32 percent rarely felt a feeling of stress. However, a worrying 22 percent said they were often stressed.

The participants were also asked about the exact reason for the feeling of stress. One in two gave the reason for the contact restrictions – either because contact with family and friends was limited or because they could no longer pursue their usual leisure activities. Another 26 percent also account for the stress level in private life: They feel stressed by the fact that fewer vacation options are currently available.

30 percent, however, put their professional life under stress. There were also many drastic innovations and changes at work that they have not yet got used to, such as the introduction of home office and shift work.

UK poll says the same

The results of the FORSA study coincide with a survey carried out in the United Kingdom. The “UK Household Longitudinal Study” is a representative survey that has been carried out every year since 2009. Participants are asked about various social and economic issues as part of the survey. Part of the survey is also the “General Health Questionnaire”, which examines the mental state of the respondents.

This year, the poll was conducted between April 23 and 30, when the British population was in a lockdown. According to Kathryn Abel from the University of Nottingham, more than a quarter of the participants experienced a “potentially clinically significant psychological stress” after the end of April. Before the pandemic, it had been less than a fifth.

It is particularly interesting about this survey that, in contrast to the FORSA survey, it was also published which population groups the pandemic had the most influence on. According to the results of the survey, women were worse off than men and people with children were worse off than childless people. What is particularly interesting, however, is that young people suffered most from the new situation – in other words, the group for whom the risk of dying from Covid-19 is lowest. On the other hand, those over the age of 70 who were at the highest risk of death suffered the least.

How harmful is the pandemic to young people’s health?

The pandemic situation in the United Kingdom was of course different from that in Germany, and the periods in which the surveys were carried out also varied. The results from the United Kingdom can of course not simply be transferred to Germany. Nevertheless, both surveys point in the same direction. They show that the pandemic has an impact on our mental health that should not be underestimated.

Many find it unfair that those who are least at risk of the virus suffer. In fact, young people in Germany seem to be less able to cope with the security measures than other age groups, as the illegal celebrations and gatherings among young people indicate. These results are all the more worrying, because still nobody knows how long the pandemic will continue to accompany us and how long the measures mentioned will be necessary. However, the effect of long-term social distancing on the mental health of young people is also unknown.

Here it goes to Survey conducted by the FORSA Institute on behalf of the Working Group on Food Supplements (AK NEM) in the Food Association Germany.

More information about the “General Health Questionnaire “from the” UK Household Longitudinal Study “is available here.

More background information and news around the Coronavirus are available on our topic page. For example, did you know that too the psychological stress on children during the pandemic is higher than expected? Vaccine research is ongoing, but some scientists say a vaccine is not the way out of the corona crisis.

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